Disease Proof : Disease Proof : Health & Nutrition News & Commentary : Dr. Joel Fuhrman

Happy Saturday! Time for another Eating to Live on the Outside—hope you’re ready. This week we’re “off” to New York City to check out Slice, a pizza place, an organic pizza place. Relax! It’s better than it sounds. Here’s a short list of things that might tickle your fancy.

Fresh Salad

• Organic mesclun greens, carrots, cucumbers, plum tomatoes and choice of carrot ginger dressing or balsamic vinaigrette; looks good, but dressing on the side.

Beginner Hummus

• Herb crust, caramelized onions, organic hummus and kalamata olives; the olives are a little iffy, but if you don’t eat them all the time. No worries.

Wizard Bruschetta

• Honey whole wheat crust, all-natural marinara sauce, bruschetta topping: tomatoes, red onions, basil, sundried tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and olive oil; if you like tomatoes, this one should get your motor running.

The Radha

• Honey whole wheat crust, organic hummus, kalamata olives and fresh bruschetta topping; same deal with the olives, just don’t make a habit out of it.

Slice is certainly more health-friendly than most pizza joints! Now, if I really had to pick something. I’m going to be bold today. I’ll go with the Wizard Bruschetta. I know, the salad has more greens, but fresh tomatoes, onions and basil is pretty hard to pass up. What do you think?

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Despite the rainy, depressing weather, yesterday’s box share brightened up my day. Tomatoes are one of my favorite vegetables, so I was stoked when I found two containers of cherry tomatoes, along with regular tomatoes, corn, cabbage, basil, shallots, zucchini, garlic, potatoes and onions.

Now, until my garbage tomato starts bearing fruit—no doubt it’s been delayed by the unseasonably cool summer—I’ll have to make do with these tomatoes. Okay, so after the split with my friend I got some potatoes, shallots, corn, onions, zucchini and of course tomatoes. Sweet!

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I’m Italian, so I’m required to like garlic, but that garlic powder I grew up on can’t hold a candle to fresh garlic. A new study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry claims that raw, crushed garlic has more heart-protective effects than the dried stuff.

In the study, Dipak K. Das and colleagues point out that raw, crushed garlic generates hydrogen sulfide through a chemical reaction. Although best known as the stuff that gives rotten eggs their distinctive odor, hydrogen sulfide also acts as a chemical messenger in the body, relaxing blood vessels and allowing more blood to pass through. Processed and cooked garlic, however, loses its ability to generate hydrogen sulfide.

The scientists gave freshly crushed garlic and processed garlic to two groups of lab rats, and then studied how well the animals' hearts recovered from simulated heart attacks. "Both crushed and processed garlic reduced damage from lack of oxygen, but the fresh garlic group had a significantly greater effect on restoring good blood flow in the aorta and increased pressure in the left ventricle of the heart," Das said.

Garlic is one of the foods Dr. Fuhrman recommends diabetics eat plenty of, along side green vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, eggplant, tomatoes, mushrooms and onions. Sometimes I bake garlic cloves in the oven and spread it on wholegrain bread.

Via EurekAlert!

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Looks like the summer harvest is in full swing! My garbage tomato is thriving and my local CSA box shares are getting better and better. This week the box was pretty heavy again. That’s a good sign! Means there’s plenty of good stuff inside.

When I cracked the lid, I found beets, onions, cucumbers, red and green leaf lettuce, zucchini, little gourds, garlic and a whole bunch of red potatoes. Awesome! The cucumbers didn’t even last an hour. I whipped up some avocado and destroyed them. 

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I feel like I say it every Saturday, but I’m wiped out! I have just enough energy to take a “trip” to California, because this week Eating to Live on the Outside is off to San Francisco to grab a bite to eat at Bombay Indian Restaurant. And at first glance it looks okay.

Now, I just finished sifting through the menu. Some stuff you want to avoid, like the lamb and cheese, but there’s plenty of good food too. Here’s a quick list of potential options:

Cucumber Salad

• Indian style cucumber, tomato and onion; you can never go wrong with tomatoes.

Mixed Salad

• Green salad, cucumber and tomato; nice and simple.

Bombay Vegetable Masala

• Mixed vegetables cooked with bell peppers, spinach, onions, cheese, ginger, garlic and spices; lot’s of great vegetables, but I’ll ditch the cheese.

Allu Bengan

• Eggplant and potatoes cooked with herbs and spices; I’m Italian, naturally I love eggplant.

Mixed Vegetables

• Vegetables cooked in a light curry; I wonder what veggies are in this.

Mushroom Mattar

• Green peas, mushrooms and spices with coconut sauce; its hard for me to pass up mushrooms.

Allu Gobi

• Cauliflower and potatoes in spiced gravy; looks like another good one.

Sag Allu

• Fresh spinach cooked with potatoes, herbs and spices; put spinach in something and I’ll probably eat it.

Allu Mattar

• Potatoes and green peas cooked in curry sauce; not too bad.

Bombay Vegetable Coconut Curry

• Fresh vegetables cooked with coconut curry sauce; I’m cool with this.

Bhindi Masala

• Okra cooked with chopped onions, tomatoes and spices; I still haven’t tried okra yet!

Chana Palak

• Fresh cut spinach cooked with garbanzo beans and spices; love that spinach.

Vegetable Biryani

• Saffron rice with fresh vegetables, nuts and herbs; looks okay.

Bombay serves up a lot of vegetables, and beans—lots of beans—you know what that means! Now, if I REALLY had to pick something the Mixed Salad or the Cucumber Salad are probably the safest bet, but I could be lured into ordering the Bombay Vegetable Masala.

Okay, time for you guys to get off your lazy butts. Flip through Bombay’s menu and tell me what you like. Oh, and if any of you ever go to any of these places, say so in the comments. If not, I’ll thrash you!

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I always get excited when I pick up my share for the week and the box is heavy—means there’s a bunch of cool stuff inside. Although, it’s pretty funny to watch a big tattooed galoot like me carrying a box of organic veggies around and then taking pictures of it like a mental patient.

Now, this week was packed with goodies. There was red leaf lettuce, kale, zucchini, cabbage, garlic, beets, fennel, onions, cucumbers and a flying saucer-looking gourd of some sort. I usually give the beets to my mom. It’s funny to watch her get ticked that they stain her hands. I’m evil.

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Okay, I’ve decided for the rest of summer I am going to ditch my search for marked down fruits and vegetables and—in the spirit of the season—blog about all the cool stuff I get from my local community supported agriculture. Sound like a good idea? I think so.

As you can see, yesterday’s box was loaded with awesome vegetables. After I split it up with my friend, I was left with the broccoli, radicchio, lettuce, fennel and some onions and garlic. Not a bad haul, but I have a busy week ahead of me, so I gave most of it to my mom.

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My favorite, ripe bananas $0.68.

A bunch of big red onions $1.00.

And eight fuzzy kiwis $1.00.

Today's total is only $2.68. I'm part gorilla. A stockpile of bananas is an absolute must! 

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Slightly dinged apples $1.94.

Ripe bananas only $0.84.

A bunch of onions $1.88.

Grand total for only $4.66. Not too bad.

Apples make perfect snacks, I eat bananas all the time and onions are always good to have on hand.

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Many Brits love a full English breakfast, but hate nutritious foods, like spinach, mushrooms, lentils, onions, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and other vegetables. But, they still eat them! According to a new report, during their lifetime, people living in the United Kingdom consume 4,000 portions of foods they dislike, because they know eating them is healthy. Nutritionists are astonished by the amount of food people are forcing themselves to eat; The Telegraph investigates.

Wow, that’s hardcore! But not nearly as tough as the mums who started dealing hamburgers on the playground when the local school tried to improve its menu, now that’s gangster!

Via CalorieLab.

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